Anywhere
by Suffering Angel
Summary: It took him this long to realize what he wanted - he had all along.


I don't own KH

_**Anywhere  
><strong>_  
>If I were with Sora, I could go anywhere.<br>Back then, I really believed that with all my heart. Friends were nice to have, as was family, but I couldn't really bring myself to be interested. I didn't need anyone else, so long as I had him with me.  
>I knew it wasn't entirely mutual. We were best friends, true - still are - but for all my pride and arrogance I wasn't stupid enough to think Sora would settle for so little. He was always surrounded by people, his light drawing them in and then sustaining them. They flocked to him like moths to flame, but there was no danger there, no pain. And so they stayed as close as they could to him, but from where I stood, they almost seemed to form a barrier.<p>

I knew it was all in my head; I knew that if I so much as called out his name or reached for him, that he'd smile at me in his usual cheerful manner, and at least for a while - I'll have his light to myself.  
>But that was it - a while - and I'd soon feel this barrier, this invisible, unbreakable wall form between us again<br>Every time he turned away.

I don't remember when it started, but one day I caught myself thinking that we should get away from everything. We promised before to leave together, and if we could go anywhere -  
>Well, why the hell not?<br>I certainly wanted to. I mean, if we went far enough... they wouldn't be able to follow us, right? They wouldn't even be able to find us, because just like me, without Sora, they couldn't do anything.  
>I'd be the only one who had him.<p>

I have to wonder when I let myself forget that Sora just might've had a saying in this too.  
>I might've been fine with leaving everyone else behind, but Sora wasn't the type to settle for so little; pfft, the greedy brat.<br>Sooner or later he was bound to grow homesick, come to miss everyone, and head back home.  
>Or even worse yet, was something I never expected -<br>Sora could make _new_ friends.  
>Such a simple, obvious course of action, but it still caught me completely unprepared to the point I couldn't help but keep quiet.<br>"Who are they?" Was all I managed to say, feeling like my bravado of less than a moment before was thrown in my face in pieces. You seemed so comfortable around them, so at ease that I felt something I never did before in my life -  
>Even if I called out to you, you wouldn't turn to face me anymore.<p>

I still tried, mind, several times, but I knew it was pointless. You were too far gone for my voice to reach you, or was it - the one who went too far away was me?  
>No, never; that couldn't have been true, I remember thinking - it couldn't have been my fault. It was all yours, and if that was the case, then I didn't want you around.<br>Who'd want a friend like that, anyway? I'd get rid of you, and start off down my own path.

It was so easy to forget that without you around, there was no path for me to follow to begin with. And a great deal because, simply enough - there wasn't a destination.  
>No place was worth getting to if you weren't there to walk alongside towards, and to share the tale of the journey with.<br>I'll admit - it wasn't until you found me again, accepted me again that I realized how stupid I was. I'm not talking about being petty or jealous or thinking you were so far away when all you ever did was run as fast as you could after me, desperate to catch up - never let me get too far away.  
>That, I realized a good while ago, I'm not <em>that<em> dumb. But it wasn't until you stood in front of me grinning, and I knew you weren't only acting like all was forgiven, you really meant that - only then I admitted it, the same thing I'm certain of now with the both of us sprawled on the sand in our beach with no one else around. We're both panting and gasping for breath after pushing each other to our limits and beyond, and you're complaining about unfair differences in height and body mass.  
>The only thing going through my mind, however, is how clear and blue the sky is, to the point I feel I just might fall up into it.<br>You snap me out of it with a poke to the side of my head and I wonder - if I'd have looked up a second longer instead of turning to face you -  
>Would I have fallen into the sky?<br>I hope not; I'd hate leaving you behind.

"...what's with the weird smile?" You ask with an awkward one of your own, and I can only imagine how weird my expression just _has_ to be.  
>Happy smiles still feel off after two years of frowning, see. But for the life of me I can't help it, and you growl when I ruffle your hair with a sand-covered hand.<br>Sorry about that, by the way.

"It's a weird smile, what else is there to say?"  
>You, of course, aren't satisfied in the least, and it's not long before we engage in a short tickle fight that leaves us right where with started, only with even less air than before. You go on complaining again, and I close my eyes, enjoying your pointless drivel over the sound of the waves.<p>

I really was stupid, wasn't I? It doesn't matter if I could go anywhere with you; just by having you around, I'm right where I always wanted to be.

"You're smiling weirdly again."

"Deal with it." 


End file.
